Confirmed: moving 30% of spend to direct paths cut take-rate 9 points

Confirmed: moving 30% of spend to direct paths cut take-rate 9 points
A DTC buyer ran supply-path optimization on a $400K/mo campaign.
— Mapped every path to the same publisher across 5 SSPs
— Routed buying to the lowest-fee direct seller relationship
— Resold paths with 18-22% fees got demoted in the bidder
Working media to the publisher rose from 71% to 80% of spend. Same outcomes, fewer middlemen clipping the auction.
Impact: SPO is margin you reclaim, not a vendor pitch.
Confidence: sourced